London Calling
by Aliceoflegend
Summary: Set after Finding Sky and focusing on Sky and Zed's life in London - life seems to be going well for the Soulfinders, but will Sky's past catch up to her too soon? Will revenge strike and leave Zed and Sky separated forever? Stay tune. . .
1. Chapter 1: The Battle

_**OK, so i've talked about making a carry-on fic after Finding Sky and here it is, fresh and raw. I'll just explain what's going on here - Sky and Zed live in London together after graduating school in America, and are going to separate collages/universities in London, each studying different things of course. The reason i'm not including Phoenix or Yves too strongly so far is that i haven't actually read Stealing Phoenix yet - i know, blasphemy! I'm scheduled a Waterstone's visit this weekend, and i had an almighty list of books to buy, and believe me what i say that SP is no. 1. So enjoy, try to ignore the typos as best you can and get back to me about initial ideas. As the characters have progressed, so have i progressed the interpretation of them, hence some very mild adult suggestions, but to be honest i'm not into that whole detailed sexual descriptions thing, so any shut-your-eyes-kids scenes will be lead towards suggestively but not outright in your face XXX material, OK? Thanks, and again enjoy!**_

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><p>A scream came from the apartment, and dark shapes wrestled violently behind the curtains. An onlooker stopped to regard the shadows, moving frantically back and forth, one trying to shake off the other. The stranger stopped and stared, their eyes wide and moth slightly open. It was raining outside, but it did not affect the stranger; their hair was matted and greasy, and their clothes were past hygienic. Hidden in an alleyway, they remained mysterious as the night itself. The stranger's mouth closed and they smiled in a way that could only mean trouble.<p>

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><p>Sky screamed. She couldn't help it – she opened her mouth and wailed as loud as she could.<p>

"Stop!" she begged, tears streaming from her eyes "Please, I beg you, stop!"

"No way!" Zed yelled back, renewing his attack even more. Sky yelled again, this time ending it in an explosion of giggles. "How come I didn't know you were ticklish before now?"

"Because I didn't want this to happen!" she giggled back, wriggling and writhing like a baby in an attempt to get away from Zed, who was tickling the soft curve of her waist in that sensitive spot right below the ribs. She kicked her legs and tried to shimmy backwards, but it didn't do any good; she just ended up getting tangled in the purple blanket that was always on their bed. The evening had started off innocently enough, with Zed coming back to their small but homely apartment after work, but after a long time of boredom Sky was in the mood for some fun. A hair-mussing-up quickly turned into Sky jumping on Zed's back, which led Zed to experiment with whether Sky was ticklish or not.

She was. _Very_ ticklish.

"Ok, Ok, I'm sorry!" she finally shrieked breathlessly "I won't do it ever again, whatever it was!" exhausted, Zed relented and collapsed on his back next to Sky, taking her in. She had changed a lot since the first time he saw her, all those years ago in High School; she had grown into her eyes a little more, although they were still big, blue and utterly beautiful, and cheekbones had been revealed under a layer of baby fat. She was still small in figure and had skin like a Clearasil model, but she had developed a way of walking and carrying herself that looked more like a queen would walk, graceful and elegant in a way that you couldn't quite pin down. Her hair had stayed long and curly, and it now reached her waist in a silken sprawl of gold.

"We will never speak of this again." Sky said after a few minutes of getting their breath back

"Oh, I don't know," Zed reasoned, looking at her mischievously "I think Xav and Yves would find this very. . . interesting." Sky smacked his arm lightly.

"Oh, no you don't. You know what I can do to make your life difficult." She warned with a grin.

"Oh, please, babe," Zed rubbed his chest, making a fake-arrogant face "you know you can't resist _me_." Sky didn't reply – she just reached forwards and rested her hand on his cheek. Her eyes went distant and her irises went from blue to white-gray. As with all other Savants, Sky's other, lesser powers had developed not long after her first. A very useful one was to be able to sense where people had been within the last few days by skin-to-skin touch. She could do it with objects too, sensing strong emotional imprints that could linger for years and years.

"Oh, no," Zed grumbled "you know it freaks me out when you do that 'looking into the past' stuff. Reminds me of my Mum." But he knew better than to try and get away – when she went away, it was like her skin fused with his for a little while.

"Green Park," she said after a second's pause "you walked past Buckingham Palace today. And a shop with green-blue paint and gold leaf on the title lettering. It had big glass windows." With a painful wrench, Zed pushed Sky's hand away from his skin. Her eyes snapped back to blue and she smiled. "Something you don't want me to know, sweetie pie?" Sky drawled in a fake American accent – she had never quite picked it up, despite her life in America with the Benedicts. Zed didn't reply – he was too busy hissing and rubbing his cheek from the pain of breaking contact.

"I told you not to break the bond." She said factually, standing up briskly.

"I always forget how much it hurts." He said to himself, catching her wrist as she walked away and pulling her back onto his lap "Kiss it better?" with a brooding look, Sky slowly settled onto Zed's lap so that her legs were wrapped around his hips and her hands behind his neck. She leaned forwards and kissed his red cheek, then the other, then both eyelids and, finally, his lips. Without breaking the kiss, she pushed him backwards so that they were both lying on the bed.

"Feel better?" she whispered against his lips.

"Oh, much." He replied gruffly, before turning her over so that _she_ was on her back and kissing her passionately.


	2. Chapter 2: London Buses

Zed woke up with a groan, the light streaming through their apartment window like in an Old Masters' painting of heaven. Zed looked to his right, where Sky's head rested against his chest, and nodded to himself. He _was_ in heaven. Heaven was where Sky was, no matter what. As every morning, Zed allowed himself to examine Sky, taking in every detail of her and searing it to his mind; the light-lavender colour of her closed eyelids, criss-crossed in a spider-web-like pattern of purple veins; the full curve of her bottom lip, slightly pouty and totally adorable, like pink roses or cherries. How he loved to kiss those lips, to stroke those cheeks with his fingertips, watch those feather-like eyelashes flutter as she dreamed. She was perfection itself, his angel.

"What did I tell you about watching me while I sleep?" the angel suddenly said, not opening her eyes or moving at all.

"Not to?" Zed replied unsurely, and Sky turned her head to him, opening her eyes to stare at him tiredly.

"Well done, genius." She laughed, and threw the sheets aside.

"Oh, no!" he begged, watching her go "Don't leave. I'm sorry – come back!"

"I have to go to class." She came back and kissed him quickly "Remember? I'll be back soon." Then she went off to get dressed, and Zed smiled to himself. She was wearing nothing but one of his old t-shirts that reached about mid-thigh. He was honestly disappointed when she came from their walk-in wardrobe in a pair of jeans, tucked into some well-worn boots, and an off-white peasant shirt. Even though she didn't realise, Sky had a flair for fashion and always looked good, no matter what. She had pulled her hair up in a fat bun at the nape of her neck and a shimmer of silver showed around her neck. It was the necklace Zed had given her that Valentine's day – a silver chain with a pendant of a bow in tiny diamonds that looked like glittering stars. She always wore it.

"It keeps you close to my heart," she would say with a secret smile.

"I'll be back with food," she promised as she left, "I love you."

"I love you too," Zed rumbled back "my Soulfinder." It was Sky's favourite endearment. Zed saw her eyes soften at the word, and she kissed him tenderly.

"Don't call me that," she admonished softly, her forehead pressed against him "if you do, I'll never leave."

"In that case," he pulled her onto their bed, in which he was still lying, and pinned her wrists above her head, his face millimetres from hers. Her eyes were wide – she was biting her lip, trying not to look at the perfect, tanned skin on his chest and arms. "Don't leave – _Soulfinder_." He whispered the last word, and she closed her eyes with a delighted sigh.

"I have to," she murmured, but she no longer sounded so confident. Her will was crumbling in the face of a near-naked Zed. "I have to go to class." She sounded more convinced, so Zed leaned down and gave her a passionate kiss that didn't last long enough for Sky's liking.

"You could stay here," he murmured, tracing a line of kisses down her chin and jaw "I could make you breakfast in bed and we could take a walk in the park and get dinner at your favourite restaurant and. . ."

"Zed," Sky moaned, not opening her eyes "I can't – I have to go to class. It's important. And I've already had breakfast." Zed smiled sadly; he knew I couldn't tempt her, but trying never hurt.

"Ok," he sighed, rolling off and helping her up "I'll meet you at the College for lunch?"

"Always," she smiled, accepting his hand "I love you – bye." With one final kiss, she was off and out the door. Sky was in her final year at the Royal College of Music, and that was reflected by the state of the apartment. There was a wooden piano in the bedroom with sheet music scattered haphazardly over the top – it was only because the apartment was too small that they didn't have an all-out Grand Piano. But she wasn't limited to piano; a guitar leaned against the sofa, a flute case was on the Study table, a violin case was on the bedside table, and the double bass dominated a whole corner in the Study as well. The apartment was constantly filled with the sound of Sky practicing, but she still refused to sing, no matter what.

As soon as the door closed, Zed jumped out of bed and got dressed in the first clothes he could find, regardless if it went or not. Then he went to their floor-to-ceiling bookshelf and pulled out a very specific novel. He had bought it at a charity shop for it's leather binding and the fact that it was all about the Four Humours – a medical theory that is far outdated – so no one would want to buy it. It was thick, with paper so thin you could see through the sheets and a text so small that even Zed, with his perfect eyesight, would need some sort of magnifying glass to read it. Eagerly, he opened the book; it fell open at the right page first time. A great chunk of paper had been cut through with scissors, leaving a square-shaped hole that was about three inches deep in the book. Inside the hole, nestled in the yellowing paper, was a black velvet box. The velvet was slightly dusty, and the box was in the shape of a heart with a delicate gold clip keeping it closed. Zed gently took it out of the book, putting it back on the shelf without looking, and slowly opened the dainty lid. The ring inside took his breath away, even though he had chosen and bought it himself. It was an antique – he had seen the green-blue shop with gold leaf months back and knew he would get Sky's ring from there – and very expensive, but as soon as he had seen it he knew it was _Sky_. It was art-deco style, with a large circular diamond in the middle. On each side, there were two diamonds side by side set in silver to make a small rectangle – this was repeated with even smaller diamonds after that to give a stairs-like look. It was simple, and yet intricate, and around the main diamond were four tiny circular pearls. It was just _Sky_ – as soon as Zed lay eyes on it, he knew that was the ring he wanted Sky to wear for the rest of her life.

"Oh, Sky," he sighed to himself, closing the velvet box and replacing it in the secret compartment in the book. He didn't know when he was going to propose – he needed to get a perfect situation, and he refused to go to the _internet_ for ideas. He should call Trace – he found his Soulfinder, a French architect called Gabrielle, two years ago and they were happily married and expecting their first child. Everyone was delighted for them, but it put even more strain on the Benedicts who hadn't found their other halves; it was bad enough when Zed found Sky in High School, before he had even consciously began to worry about it, but both Yves and Xav had found their Soulfinders, Phoenix and Rosa, too. Vic and Uriel were feeling the pressure and the whole family was worried for them.

Zed checked the time and cursed. It was almost lunch – he had to meet Sky. He rushed out and went to their traditional lunchtime place; it was small, no more than a coffee shop with sandwiches and the most fantastically sweet cakes and hot chocolates around, and there was a distinct eclectic style to the place. The walls were painted just the right shade of yellow to make the small space look homely, and none of the furniture matched. Zed slipped into their normal place – he was friends with the owner, and she made sure their table was never taken. It was an intimate corner with plush cushions and a checkerboard patterned table, only the squares were blue and silver, not black and white.

"Zed!" greeted Edith, the middle-aged woman who owned the small cafe. Her appearance was mis-matching as her shop; her hair was pure white, even though she was only about 65 years old, and she always wore purple lipstick and blue eyeshadow. She liked to wind multi-coloured scarves in with her wispy tresses and had rows and rows of beads winding around her throat and wrists. Her husband, Jerry, was the baker and made the best damn chocolate and walnut brownies in all of London.

"Where's your Sky?" she asked as she winded to where Zed was waiting impatiently – he could feel Sky getting closer and, to his dread, her annoyance.

"On her way," Zed smiled back – he knew the exact time Sky would come through that door, down to the very last second.

"Awww, you two young lovers." She smiled delightedly "I remember I was young once. And beautiful as your Sky, too." She said sadly.

"You're beautiful now, Edith," Zed brushed off her comment with his easy charm "I wouldn't change you."

"Oh, you charmer," Edith laughed "the usual?" Zed's eyes became unfocused for just a second as he sensed out Sky.

"I think we'll need something a little sweeter for Sky today." He replied with a tight smile.

"_Sweeter_?" repeated Edith disbelievingly "That girl has the biggest sweet tooth I've ever seen. What'll it be?"

"Sky'll have your thickest hot chocolate and a slice of lemon meringue pie – a big slice – and I'll have some black coffee and some strawberry shortcake. Thanks."

"No problem." She smiled and stumbled off. I glanced at the clock. Three. . . two. . . one. . .

"You will not _believe_ the morning I've had!" Sky came storming in and stood in front of Zed, her face red with anger. Zed couldn't think; his mind froze with shock. Sky was dripping wet, from the roots of her hair to the soles of her shoes, and mud was splattered across her face and shirt. The thin, pale material of her shirt had become see-through when it got wet, and from the way she was crossing her arm over her chest, she hadn't put on a bra that morning.

"Well?" she demanded "Are you just going to sit there staring or offer me your coat? Or do you want people to see your girlfriend in drenched clothes that leave little to the imagination?" her voice was high and a little hysterical. Zed quickly stood up and wrapped his thick coat around her, making her look like a girl who was playing in her father's clothing. She shivered from the cold and Zed sat her down on his lap, pressing her close to his chest.

"I've had the worst day." She whispered, and for some reason Zed started chuckling. Sky joined in too, and soon they were clutching their stomach with laughter, the voices gone hoarse.

"What happened?" Zed wheezed out "Did you fall in a lake or something?"

"No – a bus ran into a puddle right in front of me." she giggled back, her hand over her mouth "I got drenched!"

"I can see that." just then, Edith came over with their food and drinks. She took one look at Sky – or rather, the top of Sky's head, as that's all she could see of Sky from around Zed's coat – and her brow furrowed.

"Bad day." Zed mouthed, the grinned to let her know everything was OK. Edith pressed her lips together to stop a smile and set the food on the table silently.

"No charge." She mouthed back, eyeing Sky, and walked off, ignoring Zed's silent protests.

"Ohhh!" Sky squealed, her eyes brightening "Lemon meringue pie!"


	3. Chapter 3: Blood and Foundation

A woman sat at the back of the cafe, her shabby coat threadbare and filthy. She was skinny enough to be a model, and emancipated enough to be a _super_model. She watched as a young woman came charging into the cafe, her arms wrapped tightly over her chest, her shirt sticking to her skin and her hair falling out of its do. She stopped before a handsome man with silky dark hair and said something angrily to him. He didn't reply, his mouth hanging open, and she snapped something to him again, making him jump up and give her his coat. The woman watched as she wrapped herself in it and curled up onto his lap, and how his expression tendered. They were obviously in love – not teenage, hormone-induced love, but real, can't live without you love. The woman examined the woman closely, imagining the little girl in her head and comparing the two. Same curls, though the woman's hair was lighter and in far better quality than the child from the woman's memories. Same huge blue eyes, bright like the moon and big as saucepans. Same tiny figure. But there were so many people in London, and so many women with slight figures, blue eyes and blonde hair. But for some reason, the woman just knew it was her.

"My niece," she whispered out loud "Sorcha Reid." The couple were laughing unstoppably; she would have to get Sorcha alone, away from her protective boyfriend. But there was no doubt in the woman's mind that she was still the same girl – still the same annoying, bratty kid, with a determination to do the right thing. She would help the woman out – help her out of her debts and into Sorcha's home. The woman stood – she hadn't eaten anything, just wandered in to get out of the rain – and pulled out a half-shattered compact from her pocket, touching up her blood-red lipstick and forcing another layer of cheap foundation to try and cover up her scarred, blotchy skin.

"Time to meet the family, freak." Penny Reid smiled, showing tobacco-stained teeth, and walked out the cafe without a glance at her niece, her mind whirling with plans.


	4. Chapter 4: Self Defence

There was one day a week Sky Bright had to herself. One day when she didn't have to go to school and she didn't have to go teach at the kids' music school she worked at for extra cash. And she hated it; because she was truly alone. Her parents stayed in America, with the Benedicts, and Zed had work – he worked at a small tea cafe as a waiter, where his dimples and charm got him more tips than a cat had whiskers. Sky hated any time apart from Zed, and to stop herself from dipping into his thoughts she often resorted to exercise. Since returning to England, Sky discovered she _loved_ being active – nothing competitive, of course, but just things to do. She ran every morning and evening, and went to a self-defence class. That last Zed didn't know about – Sky didn't want him to freak out about a strange man regularly attacking her and expecting her to defend herself using only her human strength. She knew she should tell him soon, because one day she was going to fall over a mat or something and get a bruise, and Zed would see it and want to know how she got it. But she just didn't _want _to.

"Hey, Sky-baby!" Sky's self-defence partner Amanda jogged up to her. Sky was secretly jealous of Amanda; she had a classic figure, all curves and soft lines. Ironically, Amanda was seriously jealous of Sky's figure, her ballerina-like grace, her delicate limbs and perfect complexion. Both women hid their envy and smiled graciously at each other.

"Hello, Mandy." Sky smiled – she had been thinking of Zed, and wondering what he was doing, who he was talking to "How are you?"

"Cold!" Amanda was the kind of person who said everything with an exclamation mark. "Let's get inside!" they hurried into the sports centre where all the other women waited.

"God, don't you just hate men?" Amanda said as soon as they were warm "I found out my boyfriend had another girl at the posh part of London – he didn't even deny it! I told him we were so O.V.E.R."

"I wouldn't know," Sky smiled timidly as she always did when she talked about Zed "my boyfriend's pretty perfect."

"You have a boyfriend?" Amanda asked a little too curiously – _no_, Sky thought, _I have a Soulfinder_ – "You never said. How long have you been going out?"

"Years. We met in High School when I lived in America – I was sixteen." She sighed, remembering her first sight of Zed Benedict. It wasn't exactly love at first sight – rather love at first _thought_.

"Really? Girl, you are in Looooooove!" whooped Amanda "Why didn't you tell me about him?"

"It never came up." Sky shrugged shyly.

"Do you have a photo?"

"Yeah, sure." Sky dug around in her bag and got out her purse – a whole side was dedicated to an image of her and Zed on holiday in Greece the year before. It was late evening, and the setting sun was casting a golden glow in the background. Sky was tanned, with sunburn over her nose and cheeks, but Zed browned perfectly, grinning like a maniac as he gave Sky a piggyback. A few metres behind, Yves was losing the piggyback race with a shouting Phoenix on his back, all four of them smiling so wide you'd think they'd won the lottery. _I did win the lottery_, thought Sky as she gazed at the picture, _I won Zed_.

"Whooooo!" called Amanda, flapping herself with her hand "Sky-baby, that's not a boy, that's a _god_! Girls, come and look at what Sky's got locked up at home!" before she knew it, all the women in Sky's class were gathered around the image, oohhing and fake-swooning at the sight of the Fabulous Mr Benedict.

". . . been looking in the wrong country!"

". . . don't make 'em like that in London!"

". . . is he for sale? I'd buy him!"

"Ladies! LADIES!" Chris the instructor bellowed, his voice breaking through the chaos surrounding Sky "I'm waiting." He rolled his eyes affectionately as the women filed into the gym room, still giggling and blushing at the sight of Sky's soulfinder "Now, today we're going to learn what to do if someone has a gun on you." Sky flinched at the word 'gun' and lay her hand over her heart – suddenly, it was beating so fast "Amy here is going to show you what to do. She's the victim, I'm the attacker. Watch." He raised his hands as if he were holding a hand gun and Amy, his assistant, stood ready a metre away. She waited, and when Chris blinked, she lashed forward, trapping his gun hand between her forearm and bicep and elbowing him in the face. Chris mimed falling over, his gun hand releasing, and Amy stood back and kicked the pretend gun away. Sky took a deep breath. She knew what was coming next – Chris always asked the smallest woman to go next to prove that anyone could do it, the brute strength like he had was not necessarily required.

"Sky, you demonstrate this time." She waved her forwards, and she obeyed, but in her head she couldn't get images of guns out of her head, the feel of it on her hands, against her own body as she pointed it to herself in a Casino in Vegas. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and opened them again, and she was in front of Chris, her feet ready.

"Ready?" Chris said, fake gun primed and set "Hit me!" Sky narrowed her eyes, then whipped into movement. Being the smallest, she was also the fastest, and she had an advantage over Chris in her Savant powers. She could see the cool shade of concentration around him, along with just that little glow of happiness. It made her feel more at ease, and gave her the confidence to do the exercise. She trapped Chris' massive wrist between her upper and lower arm and before she realised how hard she was hitting her elbow had slapped together with Chris' chin (she wasn't tall enough to reach any further). He stumbled back, half out of shock, and stared at her, rubbing his chin.

"Sorry." She finally said, after a few seconds of confusion – _did I really just do that?_ – and she stepped back towards the other women with red cheeks and hunched shoulders.

"No, er, no that's, erm, that's good. In real life you won't pull your punches, so it's good to get used to hitting something." He stuttered "Gemma, how about you next?" at Gemma's wicked grin, he quickly backtracked "No more 100% punches, please! That's what the punch bags are for." Gemma's grin faded, but she still walked with a skip in her step. Gemma loved attack and defence, but mostly attack as it allowed her to vent about her job stresses and anger over a seven-year-long relationship that still wasn't joined in holy matrimony, but Sky only attacked when it was absolutely necessary, preferring to hide and run away any day. Anyway, Zed would be with her – he always was – he'd rescue her before any violence on her part was needed.

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><p>She walked out of the sports centre, as always, sweaty and exhausted. She split up with Mandy and started her steady run home, dodging speed-walking business people and glamorous shoppers with more bags than they could carry. It was just as she was getting close to home that someone caught her eye. It was obviously a woman – her tiny structure was visible even under her ratty, massively big black coat. Sky couldn't imagine why she was even wearing a coat in the first place – the weather was actually quite good, for a change. The woman was wearing sunglasses that hid her face, and a shapeless hat that hid her hair. But she was walking straight towards Sky, and there was something familiar about her – what was it? Sky was too far away to see her face properly – something <em>so<em> familiar about the way she walked and hid her hands in her pockets. For some reason, Sky's heartbeat was going faster than before. She felt her stomach tighten. Who was this woman, who's aura was tinted such a strange orange colour. She was getting closer, almost close enough to see her face properly, and the woman opened her mouth to speak –

"Hey, baby." A voice said lowly from behind her, and Sky jumped a mile high. Zed was behind her, jogging along with her in his jeans and shirt, grinning like a pixie.

"Zed." Sky breathed, looking back for the woman. She was gone, dissolved into thin air "You scared me."

"You look like you've worked hard enough." He explained "I'm here to relieve you."

"Relieve me? What?" Sky asked, but on one swift movement Zed had grabbed her and swung her onto his back, giving her a piggy back.

"Zed, I'm gunna sweat all over you!" Sky laughed and Zed bounced her up and down, his hands hot on the back of her thighs where he was holding her up.

"No excuses!" he whooped and started charging through the crowd, making Sky laugh and ruffle his hair lovingly.


End file.
